Battle of Alberta just a memory
But with Oilers and Flames stockpiling young talent, intense rivalry could be restored
EDMONTON — We only call what the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames are doing now “The Battle Of Alberta” to be polite.
And we still have to be careful when we say it sometimes, so as not to cross the very thin line between being polite and sounding like a grandmother patronizing a three-year with a crayon who drew something that vaguely resembles a horse.
Battle? When two teams hit the ice on a Saturday night and all that’s at stake is who might finish 30th in the NHL, it’s not really much of a battle, is it? To suggest this rivalry be paid the same reverence it deserved — and demanded — when the Oilers and Flames were champions is to ignore far too many years of mediocrity.
The Battle of Alberta today is two cities wishing their teams were better. And two teams wishing they could do more for their cities.
“It’s tough to find positives now just because of how the season’s gone and where we are in the standings,” said Oilers winger Jordan Eberle, who admits Edmonton-Calgary games are a shadow of what they used to be. “You look back and when both teams were fighting for a playoff spot or were in the playoffs, these games meant a lot, lot more.
“That’s hopefully what we want to get to one day.”
When Flames coach Bob Hartley thinks Battle of Alberta, he thinks 25 years ago, which is kind of sad.
“It’s more about what happened in the past,” he said. “I remember watching Lanny McDonald and Gretzky and Kurri and all those great teams. From the first day I got to Calgary I knew that those battles were very special to the people of Alberta. Unfortunately, in recent years we’ve never met in the playoffs and I think that’s where rivalries really heat up.”
Those days might be on the near horizon. Oilers-Flames, you have to believe, is about to get really good again. Maybe even great.
Both teams are stocked with high end talent already, both will wheel another impact player out of this summer’ s draft and with both rebuild son the same schedule (which is kind of odd given that the Oilers had about a seven year head start), they should peak at the same time.
If we’re lucky, they’re on a collision course.
“I think both organizations hope that it has a chance to expand and heat up and grow,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “We’re both somewhat in the infancy stage of developing that. But as we continue to stock young players and try to grow our teams, the ages of the star players match up very well for a future of really good hockey and a very competitive rivalry.
“When the Gretzky and Peplinski eras existed they were all at the same age and they battled. Now we’re trying to rebuild that. Both teams.”
The Oilers have Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse, Oscar Klefbom, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and maybe Auston Matthews.
The Flames have Johnny G audre au, Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett, Doug Hamilton, world class defencemen Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie, and maybe Auston Matthews.
“It’s two teams with a lot of young talent,” said Nurse. “I think (Calgary) is going to be a team that we’re going to have to compete with a lot in the future.”
Hartley feels the same about Edmonton.
“Looking at the young talent on both sides, I definitely think we’re heading the right way, going in the right directions,” he said. “You just have to give time to those young players to get experience. Everyone always wants results really quickly, but it doesn’t work like that.”